Lincare Settles Probes for $12 Million

Clearwater, Fla.

Respiratory giant Lincare Holdings has agreed to pay more than $12 million to settle ongoing kickback and reimbursement allegations, the provider said.

As a result of four long-standing investigations by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Justice, federal officials alleged that the company paid illegal kickbacks for patient referrals. Lincare also was accused of violating the physician self-referral (Stark) law.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Lincare reached a $10 settlement with the OIG, which said that it was the largest-ever civil monetary penalty by the agency.

In the first investigation, OIG alleged that from 1993 to 2000 Lincare engaged in a nationwide scheme to pay physicians kickbacks to refer their patients to the company and gave referring physicians items like sporting and entertainment tickets, gift certificates, rounds of golf, golf equipment, fishing trips, meals, advertising expenses, office equipment and medical equipment.

The kickbacks were disguised as payments for supposed consulting agreements, such as medical director agreements, OIG said. OIG also alleged that Lincare violated the physician self-referral law by accepting referrals from parties to the illegal consulting agreements.

Three additional investigations involved allegations that in periods ranging from 1995 through 2004, Lincare inappropriately sought reimbursement under Medicare and other government health care programs, or otherwise violated federal health care laws.

“Lincare fully cooperated with the government during the course of their inquiries,” Chairman and CEO John P. Byrnes said in a press release. “Our board of directors believes that it was in the best interests of the company to put these matters behind us.”

As a part of the settlements, Lincare has entered into five-year a corporate integrity agreement with the OIG.